Friday, January 8, 2016

Quick & Easy Banana Smoothie, your morning protein

Do you know if your current diet is giving you your
recommended 25-30 grams of protein before noon? More importantly, do you know when and how you’re taking your protein?

What time you eat your protein during the day can have an effect
on how your body uses it, so instead of leaving your entire protein intake for
the evening, many nutrition experts recommend a protein-rich breakfast so that you
can be focused and energized in the morning. This really is no surprise, since
we all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day! With 8 grams
of protein per 8-ounce serving, milk is a good addition to your meal, and sure
to make your breakfast hearty and nutritious. Today I’m sharing with you this delicious
milkshake recipe that is an excellent way to incorporate milk into your
breakfast!

A Traditional Smoothie Bar, this is a very famous place in my hometown, it has been in business for decades.
Refresquería "La Bajadita" Photo Courtesy of Grupo Tampico Antiguo

Fruits shakes (or “licuados,” as we call them) are a very
popular drink in Mexico, especially for breakfast. They’re fast, easy to
prepare, and very versatile, since you can use almost any type of fruit in
them. In large cities (and even in those not too big), there are certain snack
bars known as “refresquerías” that sell fruit shakes from early in the morning
until late afternoon.People will stop
by to get one of these drinks for their breakfast, or even for their lunch.

You can get many fruit combinations in a single glass,
although the most traditional fruit smoothies are those with a single fruit,
such as banana, strawberries, mango, cantaloupe or papaya. There are also many complex
combinations using one or more fruits that can be mixed with granola, honey,
nuts, and even raw eggs and wheat. There is also the cactus smoothie with
orange or pineapple juice, and the recently trending green smoothies. This
particular recipe is for the classic and ever-popular “Liquado de Platano”-
Banana Milkshake.

P.S.:Visit MilkLife’s website to find out more ways to add
milk to your diet, and check out how you can win a Fitbit Flex after the
recipe!

SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS:

2 cup of milk

1 medium size banana

1 cup of ice cubes

2 tablespoons sugar

1-teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

NOTES:

This is a lighter version of the original served in my
hometown; you can add more banana if you’d like to give it a thicker
consistency.

In my hometown, we sweeten the smoothies with grenadine syrup instead of sugar, it gives a different flavor and color to the drink. The grenadine syrup sold here in the states is quite different in taste.

Start your
new year by getting 25-30 grams of protein in the morning. This smoothie offers 8 grams of protein, and if you pair it with to eggs any style, and a side of (2) sausage links or (2) slices bacon for your breakfast, then you have reached your morning goal.

I love chia seeds with almond milk, mixed with baked apples, a dash of maple syrup and lots of pecans. However I grew up with the liquados, my mom would make us a strawberry and banana with milk and raw eggs (yolk only) in the morning before heading out to school, she would tells us if we didn't want to eat breakfast we had to drink it, so we would drink it on our way out the door. I still make these at home sometimes for my kids, I was just thinking last night about making a banana shake since I have two nice ripe bananas, guess I know what I'm having tomorrow for breakfast, oh and since the bananas are ripe, no need to add sugar or vanilla since I will be using almond milk.